Jennifer Boone, president of the Riverside Association, who was among about two dozen people present, welcomed the report. She said it will reduce arguments about installing sidewalks that can occur among neighbors who differ on whether a sidewalk is necessary.

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"I think it is important that we have criteria because the debate gets taken out of it," she said after the press conference.

Thirteen streets are in greatest need of sidewalks, according to the report. They are Anderson, Evaristo and Riverside avenues; Bryam, Indian Field, Palmer Hill, Pemberwick, Shore and Stanwich roads; Havemeyer Lane; and Orchard, South Water and Weaver streets.

The Board of Estimate and Taxation will have a clearer understanding which streets have been designated as higher priorities for construction funding because of the criteria, she said. In the past, Boone said, the BET listened to arguments about what neighborhood streets needed sidewalks without having much information to compare them. She said the report will give the BET a basis for evaluating streets.

He said often the BET lacks objective measures on approving sidewalk construction. The report will change that, he said.

"The merits of it (whether to fund a project) are best determined by you having an analysis and having a basis for a decision," Tesei said.

Not everyone in attendance was in favor of more sidewalks.

Former First Selectman Tom Ragland, 74, who lives on Spring Street at the corner of Riverside Avenue, one of the 13 streets listed by the report, said many streets do not need sidewalks.

"This is urbanizing a magnificent community that we have now," said Ragland, who was first selectman from 1995 to 1999. "We're moving forward on it and it really has not been thought out."

Ragland said he isn't anti-sidewalks and supports those that are necessary, but doubts that the town needs to embark on major sidewalk construction projects.

Installing sidewalks hasn't resulted in lowering traffic volume in his area of Riverside, he said. He maintained traffic is the same regardless of whether sidewalks have been constructed. High traffic volume is the result of parents driving their children to school, he said, adding that parents are doing that because of safety concerns that do not relate to traffic.

Ragland, who has lived at 2 Spring St. since he moved to Greenwich in 1965, said the population in Riverside has marginally increased in the last four decades and doubted there is a demand for new sidewalks.

While Ragland questioned the need for new sidewalks, Boone said he believes many residents who live in her area of Riverside support constructing sidewalks and pointed to a survey the association did two years ago.

Among the questions in the 15-question survey was whether residents supported more sidewalks.

A total of 603 respondents -- 23 percent of those who were sent the survey -- responded. Of those, 53 percent favored new sidewalks, while 21 percent opposed new construction, she said.

"I think that is a strong indication that the silent majority wants sidewalks," she said.

Francis "Kip" Burgweger, chairman of the First Selectman's Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee, said three criteria were established to rate streets if they needed sidewalks: proximity to a school, train station or park -- what the committee called pedestrian generators -- traffic volume on the street as measured during peak traffic time and daily volume, and the street's width.

As for other areas of town, Tesei said he would oppose placing sidewalks along Shore Road in Old Greenwich. He said that road, which leads into Greenwich Point, doesn't need a sidewalk because there is a "natural" traffic calming due to the nature of the road.

The maximum points assigned to proximity to pedestrians was 40, the same for traffic volume. The maximum assigned to street width was 20 points. The higher the scores, the more a street needs a sidewalk, according to the report. Therefore, a street meeting all the maximum criteria -- and receiving 100 points -- is in greatest need of a sidewalk. All 13 streets listed scored 100 points.

Streets that scored 80 points and above were designated as priority streets for sidewalks, he said.

The committee also reviewed the work of the Selectmen's Pedestrian Safety Committee report released in 2006. That committee was charged with improving pedestrian safety by identifying areas where either the absence of sidewalks or the condition of existing sidewalks raised safety issues for pedestrians. It also did an inventory of streets in the town.

Burgweger said his committee reviewed that report and rated the 58 streets identified in it. Of those, 13 were assigned scores of 100.

But Burgweger cautioned that a street with a lower point score could vault to the top of the list if, for example, it was found that the street had a higher rate of accidents.

Even when a street scored at 100 percent, it doesn't automatically result in it getting support for sidewalk work.

The report is available online at the town's Web site -- www.greenwichct.org -- and also in town libraries.

Staff Writer Frank MacEachern can be reached at frank.maceachern@scni.com or 203-625-4434.